MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Kansas State women’s golf team opens up its season at the Chip-N-Club Invitational at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb. The event will tee off with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on Monday for the first 36 holes. The third and final round will begin with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday. Tuesday’s pairings will be determined by Monday’s scores through the first two rounds. Team score will be figured by their top four individual finishes each round.

THE FIELD:  K-State is joined by Big 12 foes Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. The entire 13-team field consists of: Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Creighton, Illinois State, Kansas State, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Sacramento State, South Dakota State and Wichita State. Five different conferences make up the field.

SEASON PREVIEW:  The Wildcats enter the 2009 fall season coming off a fourth place finish at the Big 12 Championship, equaling the best finish in school history. Coach Knight returns the entire roster from last season and adds two freshmen in Whitney Pyle and Hannah Roos. K-State will have experience and leadership on its side as seniors Abbi Sunner and Morgan Moon return with a combined six letters and team-best stroke averages of 78.42 and 79.74, respectively. Elise Houtz and Paige Osterloo also return with 19 events played last season and 18-hole lows of 69 and 73 respectively.

2008 CHIP-N-CLUB:  For the fifth straight season, Coach Knight took her Wildcats to Lincoln for the Chip-N-Club Invitational. At Wilderness G.C. a year ago, two Wildcats just missed the top 20, while K-State finished eighth out of 13 at the Chip-N-Club Invitational, with a team score of 918. Following a 22-over-par 310 to place 10th during the first round of the season, Kansas State women’s golf team shaved five strokes off its total in round two to move up to ninth place. K-State would climb yet another spot on the final day to finish eighth.

WILDERNESS RIDGE GOLF COURSE:  The University of Nebraska women’s golf program will host 12 other schools (four in the Big 12 Conference) in the Chip-N-Club Invitational. The Wilderness Ridge Golf Course is a par 72 that spans 6,068 yards.

LAST TIME OUT:  The last time the Wildcats competed as a team they walked off Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas, with the highest finish in post-season history at the Big 12 Championships as they placed fourth. Elise Houtz, Morgan Moon and Ami Storey all finished in the top-20 and the Wildcats carded a 311-311-322944 (+68) tournament score for their fourth-place finish.

SUMMER: This summer, a few Wildcats took part in tournaments to improve their skills for the upcoming season. Emily Houtz competed in the Women’s Western Amateur Championship in Lima, Ohio, and finished in the top eight among a loaded field. After the qualifying rounds were completed, Houtz was seeded 56th out of 132 golfers and found a spot in the championship flight. Houtz then defeated the No. 9, No. 41 and No. 25 seeds in her flight.

K-State’s Chip-N-Club Invitational Lineup                (2008-2009 Stats)

Name                               Yr-Exp     Hometown            Rnds              Avg.

Emily Houtz                          Jr.-2L     Manhattan, Kan.         21                  81.57

Morgan Moon                      Sr.-3L     Amarillo, Texas           27                  79.74

Abbi Sunner                       Sr.-3L     Ankeny, Iowa             33                  78.42

Elise Houtz                          Jr.-2L     Manhattan, Kan.         27                  80.07

Ami Storey                         So.-1L     Woodlands Park, UK   30                  80.30

*Paige Osterloo                  So.-1L     Rapid City, S.D.           29                  80.10

       *competing as individual